Cockle deaths police make raids

The search for evidence is continuing

Police investigating the deaths of 19 cockle pickers have raided several addresses in Merseyside.

The cockle pickers died when they were caught by rising tides in Morecambe Bay on Thursday.

Police are now looking for the criminal gangmasters they believe may have sent the workers out to the perilous beds.

A BBC team has seen a Lancashire police van at an address in the Kensington area of Liverpool, which is thought to have housed about 60 Chinese people.

Detectives have said they expect to start making arrests within days.

Officers believe the group came from the Merseyside area, and raided addresses in Liverpool on Saturday.

At the Kensington address, police with bolt cutters were seen entering the building, and cutting gear and cockle shells in bins outside.

We expect to make arrests within days rather than months Det Supt Mick Gradwell Lancashire police

A neighbour told a BBC reporter she had complained for 18 months about the mess made by Chinese cocklers living there.

The rescue searches have been officially called off after another day spent recovering clothes from the sea.

A Lancashire police spokesman said: "The purposes of these is to follow up on intelligence we have gathered during our operation following the tragic death of so many people."

Earlier, Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell said police were near to making arrests.

He wants to find out who instructed the cocklers to go into the dangerous bay at night, and whether they did so in a lawful way.

"It does appear that gangmasters were involved in arranging this cockle picking," he said.

HAVE YOUR SAY Local calls for better policing of the cocklers and the operations have gone totally unheeded Andrew Clarkson, Lancaster Send us your comments

A number of gangmasters' names had been provided to police and were being checked, he said.

The incident has already sparked calls for more protection of migrant workers and strict licensing of cockle pickers.

Cantonese and Mandarin translators are helping police to question survivors, as well as the Chinese consul general and other officials.

Police say their first priority is to establish the identity of the victims and have set up an identification commission.

Morecambe's deadly sands

Officers have begun interviewing some of the survivors, who are under social services care, through interpreters.

A red pick-up truck containing bags of cockles was removed by police on Friday night, having been pulled from the sand at low tide.

Police say 17 of the dead are men while two are women. The 19th victim was recovered later on Friday afternoon.

Police issued two numbers in connection with the incident:

For witnesses or those with information - 01524 63333

For worried relatives - 0870 9020999